Ottoman Madrasas in Anatolia:
Madrasas, which were the main centers of education and science in the Ottoman Empire, represented a kind of academic institutionalization and organized structure that formed intellectual life of the society until the early twentieth century. Most of the Ottoman madrasas were in the Anatolian region of the Empire. Serious studies focusing on those madrasas have recently started and among them the most important one belongs to Uzunçarşılı. After Uzunçarşılı's study, the researchers paid more special attention to this field and surveys have increased for the last thirty years. Especially the abolishment of the restrictions that had been previously preventing archival studies represented a turning point. The new interest to the Ottoman madrasas and their history shared by many academicians increased the quality of researches to the highest level. That process which caused a rise in the number of the theses increased the interest in the Ottoman madrasas as well, and gave way to an important accumulation of information. When the contents of all this literature are examined, it is seen that they contain information about the general history of madrasas, their scholars (müderris), their architectural structure, their country/city centered character, the process of education in the madrasa system, the classification of catalogs, and the literature overview. The last part of the article, the bibliography about the Ottoman madrasas, gives enough information about the quality of those studies as well as their quantity. At the same time it is important to note that, the number of publications analyzing madrasas from different aspects is continuously increasing both in Turkey and abroad.
MEFAİL HIZLI
